Make Your Mobile Phone Ring For Longer

Never manage to answer your phone before it diverts to voicemail? You can alter the length of time it rings by dialling a simple number.

Reader Hayden wrote in to describe how the process works for Telstra:

Are you constantly tearing through your bag trying to find your phone because you know after that 15 seconds it will divert to MessageBank and you’ll miss the call? It’s even more annoying if it’s a call from a blocked number

In the depths of Telstra’s website there is a guide explaining how to extend that ring to a maximum of 30 seconds but of course no-one casually stumbles across it.

Call **61*101**seconds# to extend or shorten it.

So if you wanted to extend it to its maximum (30 seconds) you would dial

**61*101**30#

Other possible timings are 15, 20 or 25 seconds.

Optus uses a very similar approach, though it has separate codes depending on whether you have calls going to voicemail or diverting to another number. Full instructions are on the Optus site. Vodafone lets you make the change online, which is a more transparent process but does require you to know account login details (a nuisance if you’re fixing a phone for family or friends).

We often presume with smartphones that these issues will be managed via settings, but the advantage of the dial code approach is that it works with any phone and doesn’t require support staff. Thanks Hayden!


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